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Applying for your spouse's open work permit now, or waiting until you're studying in Canada?

Canada • Study Permit • study 0 views
By VisaBuddies Communityvia community — compiled from public visa forums

Documents Needed

  • Enrolment letter

    Once you have this, you can apply for your spouse's SOWP application right away, without needing to wait until you're physically in Canada.

Step-by-Step

A member heading to Canada on a study visa for a September 2023 intake (PGD in Business Management) asked whether to apply for their spouse's open work permit right away, or wait until they'd actually started studying in Canada.

What the thread recommended:
  1. Applying together, rather than waiting, was seen as a reasonable, low-risk approach based on recent trends. Members were encouraging about filing both applications concurrently rather than sequentially.

  2. Once you have your enrolment letter, you can apply for your spouse's SOWP right away — you don't need to have physically started studying or be in Canada yet to file this.


The practical takeaway: once you have your enrolment letter, there's no need to wait until you're physically in Canada and studying to apply for your spouse's open work permit — applying together, based on recent trends, was seen as a reasonable approach.

Dos, Don'ts & Tips

  • Tip: You can apply for your spouse's SOWP as soon as you have your enrolment letter, without waiting to be physically in Canada.
  • Do: Consider filing your study permit and spouse's SOWP applications together rather than sequentially, per recent trends.

Have a question about this? Join the discussion.

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